A selection of Southampton fans were left astonished by Ralph Hasenhuttl opting to start James Ward-Prowse against Manchester City on Saturday, something that soon came back to bite them when he opened the scoring.
The 25-year-old central midfielder has started each of the Saints’ Premier League and Carabao Cup fixtures this season, and had not been withdrawn before the full-time whistle in any of his outings proceeding’s Saturday’s clash.
One fan noted that his inclusion in the XI to face Pep Guardiola’s title-holders was a sign of things ‘becoming a joke’ at St. Mary’s, while another added that Ward-Prowse must be displaying something special in training to impress Hasenhuttl.
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Southampton supporters would seemingly have preferred that Hasenhuttl did not start the two-time England international against Manchester City on Saturday as he was ‘average’ in their previous fixtures, including Tuesday night’s EFL Cup clash with the Sky Blues.
Ward-Prowse assisted Jack Stephen’s late consolation strike at the Etihad during the week, but only managed to record one successful tackle from eight attempts, to achieve the worst success rate of any player at 13%, per WhoScored data.
The Southampton product also flattered to deceive against Leicester City in his prior Premier League appearance, too, as Ward-Prowse failed to register any successful tackles beyond the 30th-minute as the Foxes won 9-0.
Here are some of the messages that were shared when Southampton announced who would be starting against Manchester City on Saturday…
